Immigrant Group Threatens to Sue Over Change to Asylum Policy

An immigrant advocacy group is threatening to sue the Biden administration over its anticipated plans to change U.S. asylum policy, which is expected to be announced in the coming weeks, NBC News reported on Monday.

If adopted, the new rule would prohibit migrants from seeking asylum in the United States if they did not initially attempt to apply for it from the country they were coming from. Migrants would not be eligible for the program if they cross an international border without applying first.

Director of litigation at the National Immigrant Justice Center Keren Zwic said that her organization and its partner groups will fight the expected charges in court, saying that the new rule, which comes as President Biden has faced unrelenting GOP criticism over his handling of the southern border, would not survive a legal challenge if it was enacted.

“If the proposed asylum ban rule does what we expect it to do — unlawfully deprive access to asylum based on manner of entry and/or transit route, it would be invalid like the similar Trump administration rules that were found unlawful by federal courts,” she reportedly said.

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